Never did Sofia Coppola’s signature formula (angst, angst and more angst) feel so genuine and honest as in LOST IN TRANSLATION, one of our featured films this week. It’s the film that helped bring depth and drama to Bill Murray, and put Scarlet Johansson on the map. Now if only there was some way to have fun while stuck in dull and boring Tokyo…
See more of our featured selections this week below!
Don't miss one of the most unique and mindbending thrillers of the past decade – BLACK SWAN – this week on Sundance Channel. Nina (Natalie Portman) is perfect for the role of the White Swan in <em>Swan Lake</em>, but when rival Lily (Mila Kunis) arrives, Nina begins to lose all perspective. Don't even blink, because by the end, you won't know what's real and what isn't.
Check out BLACK SWAN and the rest of our featured lineup this week!
You like Nicolas Cage? Well, we’ve got Nicolas Cage at his Nicolas Cagey-est this week in two crime thrillers playing slightly off-kilter bad guys on opposite sides of the law (yes, one’s a cop!). If you’re in the mood for something a little more uplifting, we’ve also got a journey of cultural discovery and a Baz Luhrmann musical to maintain balance in our universe.
This week, Kathryn Bigelow takes us deep inside the Iraq War in THE HURT LOCKER, her tense Oscar-winning thriller that shows the chaos of that conflict. But don’t worry – if watching army grunts doing their army stuff isn’t your thing, we’ve also got Christian Bale’s major debut, Jake Gyllenhaal trying to catch an infamous criminal, and more!
Take a trip through the mind of Hunter S. Thompson this week in Terry Gilliam’s mindbending adaptation of the gonzo journalist’s three day drug-fueled assignment to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas. But have no fear (or loathing) – if Johnny Depp’s not your style, we’re featuring other great films with stars you love to watch from George Clooney to Kathleen Turner.
This week goes up to 11 with the mockumentary – or, if you will, “rockumentary” – that started it all, spawning a new film genre and influencing Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) to make such later films as WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. Check it out this Sunday night, and take a look at what else we’ve got in store for our film blocks this week.
Our newest film block celebrates the best films of the past forty years, with a new entry every night at 8PM. This week, travel back to when bellbottom jeans were the height of fashion and men were judged by the length and width of their… mustache. That’s right – we’re midway through the 1970′s this week on Sundance Channel.
Our featured films on Sundance Channel are all about the guys this week. From Johnny Depp playing a deep and debauched poet in period England to Christopher Walken as an ex-con drug lord to Lee Marvin as the only army officer grizzled and gruff enough to lead a suicide mission inside Nazi Germany, it’s a testosterone-fueled frenzy of manly mischief and mayhem.
JULY 4TH WEEKEND 80′S COMEDY FIX
What goes better with beer and barbecue than a few laughs courtesy of 1980′s kings of comedy like Steve Martin and Chevy Chase? Celebrate our independence with a weekend-long marathon of funny features including STRANGE BREW, NIGHT SHIFT, and THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS. Get the full lineup!
Brad Pitt and Guy Ritchie – talk about a one-two punch of crime caper mayhem! Don’t miss SNATCH this week, along with our other star-studded affairs including Angelina Jolie in A MIGHTY HEART, John Travolta in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, and Forest Whitaker in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
The late 70′s and early 80′s were not always kind to New York in film – for every MANHATTAN or FAME, we had an ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK or THE WARRIORS. We’re featuring that last film this week, a cult classic that achieved that status because it’s both a real expression of the fear we all felt for where the city was headed… but it’s also kind of hilarious. “Warriors – you guys are the big dudes!”
Tune in for more great films this week too – check out our featured lineup after the jump.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, Kathy Bates, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman… all great actors who happened to have career-defining roles in our films this week. Whether initially putting them on the Hollywood map or finally garnering them the recognition they always deserved, this week’s films are all actors’ films in every way they can be.
Travel back in time with our films this week, to DANGEROUS LIAISONS’ Rococo period France, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO’S 1950′s Sweden, or THE LIVES OF OTHERS’ 1980′s Cold War Germany. In fact, four of our five selections involve a look to the past. But you won’t need a DeLorean for the trip back!
This week, we’ve got Tilda Swinton in a film literally for the ages. Also don’t miss Paul Newman and Tom Cruise partnering up with Martin Scorsese, Christian Bale going on a crash diet, and more.
This week’s films are deep. From the fragility of human existence to the meaning of war, our lineup this week will make you think. But they’re also star-studded, with names like Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet and a young Mel Gibson to keep your eyes locked on the screen. And we’ve got high octane entertainment too, in the form of a Tarantino-produced bank heist gone wrong. All that and more below!
This week, we’ve got Forest Whitaker as a brutal dictator, Robert Redford in the CIA, and Jodie Foster as a domineering nun. Can you say “playing against type”? Watch these actors and others prove that great actors can play any role, and they can make us believe.
This week, get hooked on the original screen adaptation of the Millennium trilogy with Noomi Rapace in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. We’ve also got a classic from the Coen Brothers, an essential Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman collaboration, and more.
Sundance patriarch Robert Redford makes two appearances on our list this week (or three, counting his regular weekly pick) – one as actor and one as director. We’ve also got Christian Bale doing some serious method acting, a young Brad Pitt showing off that winning smile, and a real sleeper hit starring Ed Burns and Dustin Hoffman.
Writing movies is hard. This week, let’s show a little appreciation for all the struggling screenwriters out there. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is just write a movie about yourself, as Charlie Kaufman did (portrayed above by Nicolas Cage). And sometimes, that’s what ends up winning awards.
This week, around the 10 year anniversary of our last military foray into a foreign land, let’s think back to lessons not learned from an earlier conflict. We’ve got Michael Caine starring in a film that explores the ethical morass surrounding even the early days of the Vietnam War, in a sleeper of a film that shouldn’t be missed. And don’t forget our four other featured films this week, including Robert Downey Jr. in a career-making performance, an early Coen brothers classic and more.
Five films, six highly personal stories this week (one film actually has two distinct plots). Yes, even our one big-name Hollywood film is really just about a regular guy (who happens to look just like Harrison Ford) trying to do right by his wife. This is what storytelling in film is all about. Which leads us to…
This week’s highlights include four strong character films defined by great acting performances, including Noomi Rapace in the Swedish version of the complex psychological thriller THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. As a bonus, we’ve also got one quirky rom-com about a decidedly British sexual fetish – outdoor sex. Hey, it is almost spring, right? Why not?
This Valentine’s week, celebrate with four films that all take a different, non-traditional view of love and romance in the modern age. From a story of prostitution gone awry to a dark tale of love in a fantasy world, we’ve got films more interesting than your typical V-Day fare. If you’re not into the whole Hallmark holiday thing at all, may we suggest Tommy Lee Jones in a modern western instead?
And… we’re back! The blizzard of independent film known as the 2013 Sundance Film Festival is over, leaving Park City with a host of unexpected yet deserving award winners and yes, a fresh dusting of snow. We can’t wait to bring you some of the films featured at this year’s festival. Until then, you’ll just have to content yourselves with these, many of which appeared at Sundance Film Festivals past.
This week’s theme is… nymphomania! Ok, so only two of our five featured films focus on characters who go beyond simple promiscuity, but that’s 50% more than a normal week. In addition, we’ve got Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and the story behind one of post-punk music’s biggest fallen icons. Unfortunately not all in the same film, but hey, you’ve got to pace yourself. We’ve got all week together.